Lothar Ledderose professor of the History of Art of Eastern Asia at the University of Heidelberg

The Heart of EnlightenmentBuddhist Art in China

The exhibition presents ink-rubbings of monumental texts which devout Buddhists chiselled into rocks in the mountains of Shandong province during the Northern Qi dynasty. The aim of this grand project was to transform the world into a Buddhist topography. Alongside these rubbings, the exhibition also presents Buddhist stone sculpture from the same period. Most of the exhibits from the collection of the Cologne museum were acquired by its founder, Adolf Fischer. Together with loans from the Museum Rietberg Zurich and loans from private collections they provide an insight into one of the great periods of Buddhist stone sculpture in China.Research of these rock inscriptions started only a few years ago.

They cast a new light on the sculpture of that period. Computer animations in the exhibition give the visitor an opportunity to roam the mountains of Shandong province and to locate the inscriptions and rubbings, or to read the Buddhist texts. The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the Institute of East Asian Art History, Heidelberg University, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and in cooperation with the Department of Historical Monuments of the City of Zoucheng in Shandong province.source : www.museenkoeln.de